British Telecom partners with IISc to set up collaborative research center

Global telecom behemoth British Telecommunications plc (BT) on Wednesday said it was setting up a research center in this tech hub in partnership with the premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for collaborative research.

“The British Telecom Indian Research Centre will focus on the development of artificial intelligence, mobility and cyber-security technologies for use in the company’s programmes, products, and services,” said the London-based firm in a statement here.

The India center’s structure and organization will follow a model used for the British firm’s global research locations, combining academic, industry and government partnerships.

“India is an IT and technology powerhouse. We are proud of our long presence, which is second only to Britain in global footprint, with 10,300 people in technology, service and support areas serving our customers the world over,” said BT’s Chief Technology and Information Officer Howard Watson on occasion.

The India research facility will join BT’s network of collaborative research facilities in China, Northern Ireland, the UAE, and the US,” said the statement here.

The company’s global network supports its strategic research agenda, generate insight into emerging technologies and develop products and services for its customers.

The global innovation network is centred on the BT Labs at Adastral Park, Suffolk in Britain.

As a new hub for communications innovation, the partnership with the over century-old institute will build links between Britain and India in the technology sector, central to economic growth.

“Collaboration between the academia and the industry is essential for progress in the emerging telecom technologies,” said IISc Director Anurag Kumar.

The company opened in July new cyber security operations’ center at Gurugram in Haryana in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“The cybersecurity center monitors threats against the firm’s assets and its customers’ networks to detect, analyze and mitigate cyber threats in real time,” said the statement.

The Bengaluru center will complement our relationship with the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, which is focused on elastic optical networks and quantum key distribution technologies,” added the statement.

As a leading provider of communications services and solutions, BT serves customers in 180 countries the world over.

The 109-year-old reputed institution of advanced education and research in sciences and in engineering focuses on fundamental investigations and solutions for practical problems in the world.

The institute has also been collaborating with industry to work on problems of mutual interest, with 42 departments, 500 faculty, and 4,200 students.